American Politics
The stock market crash of 1929 and the long depression of the dirty 30's took its toll on American citizens. We were fighting our way back to economic recovery.
Prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States was in "isolationism" mode. We weren't willing to intercede and commit our limited resources and the lives of our men to a war that was not ours----but our hand was forced.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor launched us into World War II. The war infused the American economy with tons of money. After all, the war machine needs to be fed with a heavy influx of labor and the use of raw materials for manufacturing the instruments of war . . . .
The United States emerged from World War II as a world power. (After all, we developed the "bomb.")
Thereafter, we became overwhelmed by the "red scare" and the arms race. We were fearful of communism--the spread of communism--and the cold war was occupying the center stage of American politics.
We were afraid of the "subversive" activities of Communists who were allegedly infiltrating our country. We went through the McCarthy Era in the '50's when many citizens were called before the Congressional Committee for "UnAmerican" Activities and were required to submit the names of other persons who were members of subversive organizations.
During the 1950's, "liberal" Americans (those who believed in equal rights for all persons--including persons of color) launched a more aggressive and organized civil rights movement to remedy discrimination against black people and to make the separation of the races unlawful. America has a shameful history of discrimination.
Contrary to McGentrix's assertion, the activities of the liberals in their fight for equal rights for all citizens did not weaken America. On the contrary, our nation spent tons of money on the military, on the cold war, on espionage, and on the space war.
The Civil Rights Movement made significant strides--and the 1960's saw the United States Supreme Court (the "Warren Court") give teeth to the people's rights as protected by the United States Constitution. (Because the Warren Court required the government to respect the people's rights, the Warren Court is viewed as "liberal." Is that a dirty word? According to some, it is. . . .)
In October 1962, our democratic president John F. Kennedy (JFK) (another "liberal" as McGentrix would say), successfully thwarted the USSR effort to place missiles in Cuba. (The Cuban Missile Crisis.) This event could have launched us into a nuclear war with the USSR--but our heroic (and intelligent) president and his brother Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) were "
able to resist the war lust and manipulations of the Joints Chiefs of Staff (JCS)," and "they were able to maintain peace and not fire their weapons."
(JFK was a true leader--a strong leader--an effective leader. Our current president can't even walk in JFK's shadow.)
On November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated. (And then the alleged assassin, purportedly a communist, was murdered.)
"He didn't even have the satisfaction of being killed for
civil rights . . . . It's — it had to be some silly little
Communist." — Jackie Kennedy, on hearing that a leftist had been arrested for her husband's murder. [How convenient to blame the communists!]
Many Americans believe that JFK's assassination was orchestrated by the war-mongers who merely used "some silly little Communist" as their scapegoat. JFK would not have agreed to escalate American involvement in Vietnam----but his vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), could be persuaded. . . .
LBJ's decisions escalated Vietnam and involved the U.S. military beyond the point of no return. In 1964, LBJ asked Congress for sweeping powers in Southeast Asia. He used those powers in 1965 to deploy the first American combat troops in South Vietnam and started retaliatory bombing raids against the North.
On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, was assassinated.
In 1968, with the anti-war sentiment gaining momentum, LBJ could not bear the double pressure of waging a war and facing Robert Kennedy in the Democratic primary. On March 31, 1968, LBJ announced a halt to the bombing in North Vietnam. On June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was campaigning for the presidency. He was assassinated on his way to give a press conference, after winning the California Primary.
To this day, we are plagued with conspiracy theories concerning the murders of our foremost civil rights leaders--the "liberals." RFK's assassination eliminated the "liberal" and the leading democratic competition in the presidential race, and the "conservative" republican party took power. Richard M. Nixon was elected president.
[It is amazing that McGentrix would blame the "liberals" for making America "weak." Would America be stronger today if the Blacks were still the blatant victims of discrimination, if our Supreme Court did not enforce the Constitution it became a meaningless piece of paper, and if JFK had followed the advice of the JCS and launched our country into nuclear war with the USSR? Nevertheless, people were threatened by these amazing leaders of our nation----and they ended up dead----assassinated.
Under Nixon's leadership, the Vietnam conflict escalated into a horrendous disaster.
Quote:President Nixon faced a dilemma in
Vietnam. Americans demanded that American forces be withdrawn but without American troops in Vietnam Nixon could not force the Vietnamese to recognize South Vietnam. "Vietnamization", a policy designed to turn over the nation's defense to South Vietnam, was the solution; or so Nixon hoped.
Vietnamization never worked because the South Vietnamese could not beat back the North Vietnamese alone. Nixon turned to American airpower, authorizing bombing raids into Cambodia. The president kept these raids secret. The raids did not force the North Vietnamese to make peace. Anti war protests were staged across the nation in October after the information was leaked to the public. Anti war sentiment grew with news of the My Lai Massacre. Nixon's escalation of the war into Cambodia did not find North Vietnamese troops and it enflamed anti-war protestors. On May 4, 1970,
National Guard troops fired on student protestors at Kent State University killing students, two of whom where just walking to class. Ten days later state police shot and killed two black students at Jackson State College in Mississippi. The nation had erupted in violence. Troops were withdrawn and peace talks dragged on; Vietnamization foundered. The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers in 1971 despite Nixon's attempts to have the Supreme Court block publication. The papers revealed that Johnson had misled the American public to believe the war was winnable. Public support eroded further and North Vietnam invaded further south. Finally on January 27, 1973 American, South Vietnamese, North Vietnamese, and Viet Cong negotiators signed a peace agreement in Paris. For the United States, at least, the war in Vietnam was over. The peace agreement did not guarantee South Vietnam's survival nor was North Vietnam required to withdraw its troops.
Between the time Nixon took office in 1969 and the 1973 cease-fire 20,000 more Americans were killed and 600,000 North and South Vietnamese were killed. It was seen by many as a heavy price for such a flawed peace.
The Vietnam War lasted from 1965 to 1973--we ended the atrocious war in disgrace--we lost more than 58,000 American sons in senseless death--and lost many thousands more in more ways than one after they returned home due to post-traumatic distress. Our soldiers came home embittered--often feeling unappreciated and labeled "baby killers" due to the My Lai Massacre--and knowing that their blood was splattered all over Vietnam for a war that they weren't allowed to win.
(And people wonder why Vietnam has so molded and affected our current presidential hopeful, Kerry---a Vietnam War veteran.)
Nixon was eventually forced to resign due to the Watergate scandal and under the threat of impeachment. "I'm not a crook," he said.
That brings us up to the 1970's. This gives you a little idea how events after WWII have shaped American politics. . . .
what u've posted gave me an idea of what was this all about, coz believe me its so hard for a foreigner to learn about the American political life. 
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